About the Confederate Navy

From the October 3, 2021, Advocate (Louisiana) "Mark  K. Vogl spoke about the Confederate Navy when the Baton Rouge Civil War Round Table met  Sept. 23."

At the beginning of the war, the South did not have a Navy.  In February 1861, the Confederacy had  only 14 ships that were seaworthy  while the North already had an organized Navy with 90 functional ships.

The overwhelming industrial capacity of the North made it clear that the South could not produce as many ships, so Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory relied on technological innovation and ship-building assistance from foreign countries to make the Confederacy competitive.

His strategy centered on commerce raiding with innovative ships like the CSS Alabama, which used both sail and steam; the use of powerful rifled  naval guns, which were devastating against wooden ships; development of ironclad  ships of war, like the CSS Virginia; and the use of innovative mines, torpedoes, submarines, like the H.L. Hunley.

Vogl said that against incredible odds, the commerce raiders damaged the Union economy and forced the North to reassign blockading ships to hunt down the elusive raiders.

However, their successes were short-lived because of the North's ability to out-produce similar ships.   Vogl said the small, but innovative Confederate Navy was a valuable resource for the South.  It helped protect Confederate harbors and keep them open as well as interrupting seagoing Northern commerce.  Those ports they helped keep open provided much-needed supplies coming in from abroad.

--Old B-Runner

Charleston Lab Restores CSS Pee Dee Cannons-- Part 2

The cannons were ready to be fired and while trying to make sure the shells did not pose a threat to explode, when they turned the key on a brass fuse it fizzled like soda.  A nine pound ball was loaded into the Dahlgren gun and the two Brooke cannons were loaded with forged grapeshot the size of billiard balls.  The grapeshot were restored and preserved.

The CSS Pee Dee was 150 feet long and had a crew of 90 and carried three cannons.  These cannons weighed nearly 20 tons altogether and were mounted on carriages along the length of the hull so they could be swung either way.

The Pee Dee had been built at the Confederate Navy Yard at Mars Bluff on the Pee Dee River.  This is also where the ship was scuttled.  The guns had been thrown overboard before the Pee Dee was scuttled.  They were recovered from the river at the site.

The Brooke cannons were of Confederate manufacture and were rifled.  The Dahlgren cannon was a smoothbore and was at one time in the Union Navy, but probably seized from a northern ship.

--Old B-Runner

USS Cowslip-- Part 1: Built in New York, Acquired By the Navy

On May 29, I wrote about the USS Cowslip capturing a blockade runner.

Here is more information on this ship.

From Wikipedia.

The USS Cowslip was a steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1863 for blockade duty.  It was also used as an ammunition ship, a dispatch boat,  and a rescue and salvage vessel.

It was a sidewheel steamer built in New York as the Meteor and purchased 21 December 1863 and fitted out as a gunboat at the New York Navy Yard, commissioned 27 January 1864, Acting Ensign R. Canfield in command.  It was 123 feet long, had a 24-foot beam and crew of 36. It mounted  one 20-pdr rifled gun and two 24-pdr. smoothbores.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: Mallory Wants Commerce Cruisers

APRIL 26TH, 1861:  Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory reported:  "I propose to adopt a class of vessels hitherto unknown to naval services.  The perfection of a warship would doubtless be a combination of the greatest known ocean speed with the greatest known floating battery and power of resistance ... agents of the department have thus far purchased but two [steam vessels], which combine the requisite qualities.

"  These, the Sumter and McRae, are being fitted  as cruisers... Vessels of this character and capacity cannot be found in this country, and must be constructed or purchased abroad."

Mallory discussed naval ordnance:  "Rifled cannon... having obtained a range and accuracy beyond any other form of ordnance ...  I propose to introduce them into the Navy ...  Small propeller ships, with great speed, lightly armed with these guns, must soon become as the light artillery and rifles of the deep, a most destructive element of naval warfare."

And, Mallory had great success with his commerce cruisers as we all know.

--Old B-Runner